The name bandicoot or Indian mole rat or pig rat seems to suit this strange animal quite well. If you saw one you would certainly use your camera, for it is a most interesting small mammal. It is rather cute with long silky hair, light gray on its back, red on its sides and white underneath. You can see one in a zoo, but otherwise you will have to go to Australia or New Guinea to see one, since that is where they live.
Actually there are eight or nine species, ranging in size from a small mouse up to the size of a rabbit. They all look similar with long, narrow, pointed heads and enormous ears that stand upright. They have tails that look like those of rats, and their second and third toes are grown together.
Although the bandicoot looks peculiar to us, it is one of God’s creatures with a purpose in His creation. Other features He has given it are an extra-long tail which helps support it when standing erect and legs that, like a kangaroo’s, are short in front but long in back, enabling it to hop as quickly as a jackrabbit. It also has sharp claws to scratch for insects and worms and to dig a burrow home.
In fact, these creatures dig extra burrows. In some they store quantities of seeds, rice, or other food for use in seasons when food is not available. While the natives do not like the damage bandicoots do to their crops, there are times when they are thankful to find and rob these stores of grain to help out on a family’s food supply.
The bandicoot is like a miniature kangaroo in another way. Both are marsupials. This means that the females have pouches on their bellies for carrying and nursing their young. The difference is that the kangaroo’s pouch opens at the top and the bandicoot’s pouch opens at the bottom.
Does God see bandicoots in their life’s activities? We know He does, for the Bible plainly says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest [visible] in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:1313Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13)). And that includes each of us too.
What does He see when He looks into your heart and thoughts and your life’s activities? Does He see someone who knows His Son, the Lord Jesus, as Saviour and Lord and tries to please Him? These are important questions that should be settled today.
ML-02/18/2001